1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording apparatus for recording information on a recording medium and an information reproducing apparatus for reproducing information recorded on the recording medium, more particularly, to an information recording apparatus and a information reproducing apparatus, capable of displaying a menu screen indicating a plurality of image information recorded on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a plurality of information (such as image information) are read out and reproduced from a recording medium in which they are recorded, a menu screen showing the information can be used conveniently.
For example, if a plurality of picture images are recorded on a recording medium, a menu screen is produced with the information for identifying each picture image, such as titles and still images taken out from the picture images so that the menu screen can be displayed on a monitor before actually reproducing the picture images. Accordingly, a desired picture image can be chosen easily from the plurality of picture images recorded on the recording medium.
In particular, by displaying a still image taken out from each picture image on the menu screen, the content of each picture image can be shown further specifically, and thus the picture image can be chosen more easily. This kind of technique is known.
However, it involves a problem in that it is not easy to choose a still image capable of specifically showing the content of the picture because the image which can most appropriately show the content of the picture image differs from person to person.